


Freshman year

by aj_books



Series: BMC One Shots (Probably Rich Centric) [1]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Britton Smith!Jake Dillinger, Chloe And Brooke Are Mom Friends Power Couple, Chloe Has A Huge Heart, F/F, Fluff, Hair Dye, I Need More Love For Rich, I'll Hold Him Damn It, M/M, Post-Squip, Rich Deserves Love Too, Rich Has Weekly Cuddle Sessions With Jenna And Michael, Sometimes He Cries To Them, Squip Mentioned, They Hold Him, Tiffany Mann!Jenna Rolan, Will Roland!Jeremy Heere, a bit of angst, boyf riends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 16:32:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15800364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aj_books/pseuds/aj_books
Summary: Rich wanted his old hair back.Well, scratch that.He wanted the hair he had before he took the pill for the stupid floppy disk.Mama Brooke and Michael help with just that.///End Game RichJake/JakeRich





	Freshman year

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly just love my bisexual disaster of a son and need more fics showing him loved and happy.

“You know, if you want this to work properly you can’t move every three seconds right?” Rich moved his eyes from the singular spot he had been staring at for God knows how long, Chloe chuckled from the bed at Brooke’s motherly chiding.

“Eh? Oh- sorry Brooke.” She rolled her eyes playfully, shifting him back into the original position she had him in. “I just- h-haven’t really seen myself with normal hair since freshman year ya know? And it’s not like freshman year brings back good memories.”

Brooke winced slightly, thankful Rich was turned away from her. He didn’t mean any harm by the statement, just speaking his thoughts. She still felt horrible once learning Rich’s story-  _ the part he felt comfortable talking about, and she understood he needed time and wanted to give all the time in the world to him _ \- she wished she had met him in 9th grade before he found that stupid floppy disk. 

Michael lightly punched his arm, startling the two. He apologized, “Sorry, thought you heard me come in. Glad you didn’t start without me though.”

Rich rolled his eyes, “More like we were waiting for our slushies.”

“I’m wounded.” He handed Rich his stupid multi flavored slushie, and Brooke her cherry and coke mixed one. “You guys have weird tastes.”

Ignoring him Brooke took a sip before setting it down, adjusting her gloves. “Okay! I got three boxes of dye - “

“Brooke he doesn’t have that much hair - “

“ - so in case we have to overlay it a few times since this dye is darker than your natural color. Speaking of, this  _ is  _ the closest I could get. It matched the pictures you sent me.” She grinned at him, an innocent excitement in her eyes and he couldn’t help but smile back.

“I trust you Brooke.”

“That’s a dangerous statement.” Chloe spoke up, sticking her tongue out at her girlfriend. 

“This is a trio event Clo! Keep scrolling your gram.” Rich tended to shorten words with too many S’s or such, still trying to get used to his lisp coming back.

“Alrighty! It’s go time!” He let himself sit back in the chair more-  _ he needed to know where Brooke got this chair it was so comfy-  _ feeling the first beginning strokes of the bleach touching his hair. There was truly no going back on this was there?

“How long do you think this will take?” 

“Uh,” Michael read the back of the box, “Well the bleach needs to sit for about 20 minutes with your hair, then the toner for about the same time. Then we wash it out, condition it, wash that out - “

“The short version please.”

“An hour and a half at most.”

“I regret everything.” Brooke tugged at his hair playfully, “Ow!” He chuckled, “I’m kidding Brooke.”

A few moments passed with comfortable silence, the quiet tapping from Chloe on her phone, Michael’s music playing softly from his headphones. His voice was quiet when he decided to bring it up, fighting to keep the cracks out of it, “It’s not dumb that I really wanted to do this, was it?”

“Why would it be dumb?” Michael asked, setting his slushie down, tilting his head slightly. 

“I dunno. Like I’m trying to...bring back the dead me? Replace him? It’s just this weird feeling in my chest and...sorry it’s dumb.”

“It’s not dumb Richie.” Brooke said softly, continuing her soft and slow movements, “It…”

“It’s sweet.” Chloe spoke up, “You’re not replacing anyone, not bringing anyone back. It’s the summer before senior year, it’s the summer we start fully learning who we are. You’re finally learning that red doesn’t match the blues and greens you enjoy wearing.” He chuckled at that, remembering the mess he called a wardrobe. 

“But in seriousness,” Her voice lowered, a softness only Chloe’s true friends were able to hear on occasion, “We all go through changes, some bigger than others, some in smaller doses.You had a moment where you were...where your outer appearance wasn’t who you really felt like inside. You appeared how you thought you were required to, but now, that you have us, that you have people who truly love you, you’re able to show your true self without fear of judgement. It takes a lot of courage for that Richie.” She smiled reassuringly at him.

He felt tears burning at his eyes and he grinned back, “The wicked witch does have a heart.”

She rolled her eyes jokingly, flopping back onto Brooke’s bed, “Shut up short ass.”

“I called him a tall ass one time!”

///

An hour and a half his ass. He swears he’s been sitting there for an entire day. He finished his slushie, almost ate an entire pack of snickerdoodles- he would have if Michael didn’t take them from him. Speaking of Michael…

“And  _ I’m  _ telling you Brooke, spending $15 extra for a condition that does the same damn thing is pointless!”

“It is not pointless Mikey! The cheap one does the job yeah, but this one does it’s job- better I might add- and it softens your hair, it adds strength and volume, plus it smells good!”

“You know- it is my head, shouldn’t I get a say in this?” Rich cleared his throat, turning back to look at the two.

“No!”

“I regret asking.”

Chloe looked up from her phone, throwing a pillow at the two arguing. “I’m pretty sure you can rinse his head now.”

“Oh!” Just like that the two were done, ushering him to the bathroom to rinse his hair. 

It took almost five minutes to neither burn nor freeze his head, but finally his hair was rinshed. A towel was thrown over his head entirely as he was ushered back to Brooke’s room, someone’s hands toweling his hair dry.

_ “Whoever is touching my head is hurting me!”  _

“Shut up you big baby, you hate the blow dryer so this is the best option.” Michael’s voice held faux annoyance and he huffed, allowing the harsh attack on his poor head. 

The towel was removed and Rich blinked a few times, getting used to the bright light after an eternity under a dark towel. Chloe came up between the two; short, pink, glittery nails styling his hair, and he was thankful to be free from Brooke’s sharp nails. 

Chloe stepped back after a moment and grinned. “Mirror me!” Michael handed her Brooke’s small hand held mirror and held it up for Rich to see.

Rich wasn’t sure what he was going to think or feel upon seeing his hair he had during the worst year- well, third worst, nothing was worse than actually  _ dealing  _ with the SQUIP. His hand came up slowly, almost not believing what he was being shown. His hair felt soft to the touch, and he combed his fingers through it a few times. Licking his lips, he began to grin.

“I-It looks  _ good… _ ” His voice was a bit tight, and for the second time that day he felt tears fight to fall, but he held them back. Crying gave him headaches and he wanted to enjoy this moment, he’d probably let Michael or Jenna hold him later as he cried. 

“I-I love it,” His fingers rested at the bottom of his lips, eyes running across the mirror quickly as he kept studying it, “I never thought I would say that about this color or style on me but…” He laughed lightly, “I actually love it.”

Brooke clapped and bounced on her feet, throwing her arms around Rich once Chloe put the mirror down. Michael joined next, and Rich’s head rested right by his chest. He felt Chloe join, and he didn’t want to let go of any of them.

“Ooooo we group hugging without me?” Jake and Jeremy walked in, Jake carrying a Walmart bag of something.

Brooke and Michael pulled back some, but the hug between Chloe and Rich lasted a bit longer. Neither would deny the mistiness of their eyes, but for now it wasn’t the most important event in the room.

Jake had paused, stumbled, froze, whatever word fits seeing someone so beautiful that you feel your heart jump and leap, your blood freeze and rush at the same time. He may have let the bag drop from his hand right onto Jeremy’s foot. He ignored the offhanded glare.

“Oh.” Wow he was a genius. Chloe rolled her eyes, pulling Brooke to cuddle with her on the bed. Michael had moved to stand by Jeremy. “Rich.”

Oh God. He hated his hair. Oh God. “That...is my name.”  _ I hate myself.  _

“Yeah…”

_ “Jesus fucking Christ…”  _ Brooke lightly slapped Chloe’s arm, shushing her.

“Uh…” Rich’s hand moved to rub the back of his neck, lips curling in a mix between a frown and a pout. 

“Look- I don’t know f-for sure if I’m staying with this color or style, okay? I-I just wanted - “

“What? No! It-It looks...good?”

_ “How did I ever date him?!”  _ Brooke shushed her again.

“G-Good?”  _ Good?  _ Rich spent literal weeks working up the courage to ask Brooke and Michael to help him with his head. He was terrified it would look dumb-  _ just like she had told him befo- _ **no.** He took a deep breath. “I- uh- “

“I mean- better than good! Really good! Amazing! Really!” His voice was too loud wasn’t it? Oh fuck it, “Fuck this…”

“Fuck wh- “ Jake stepped forward, hand cupping the curve of Rich’s jaw and tilting his head up, pressing their lips together with such tenderness Rich felt his brain clear and his heart leap.

Jake stepped back, a pink tint showing on his skin, and Rich stood there dumbfounded for a moment. Jake coughed softly, “Uh- yeah, it looks good.”

“...yeah…”

“...I’m sorry, I should have asked- was that okay?”

“.... _ yeah _ ...:”

There was silence around them, Chloe and Brooke grinning and holding each other as the scene unfolded in front of them. Jeremy was happy for his two friends, Rich had come to him at 3 am on a Saturday when he and Michael were both high ranting about his crush on Jake, and Jake had texted Jeremy the next morning about his crush on Rich. They were a group of oblivious LGBTQA+ folk.

“Ha, gAY!”

_ “Michael!”  _ He shied away from Jeremy’s sharp elbow, and Rich chuckled. 

Clearing his throat he winked towards Mikey, “Half right.” 

The six set off out of Brooke’s house, piling in two cars to meet Jenna and Christine for the weekly movie night. The drive was a quiet one, filled with slight banter between the two girls in the, soft laughter, music playing from Michael’s  _ Squip Squad Playlist. _

The first few notes of Bleachers  _ Wild Heart  _ began to play, and staring through the window Rich felt Jake slip his hand into his own, and he felt the happy smile settle on his face.

Who knew it took a bit of bleach, toner and hair dye to get two love sick idiots together?


End file.
